1,721,057 research outputs found
Interference in processing agreement: the impact of grammatical cues.
No full textAgreement is a covariation in morphological form that reflects relations between words. A series of experiments were carried out in Italian during production and comprehension where an element interferes with agreement. The likelihood of interference found in both modalities is related to the markedness of the intervener and to its grammatical nature: it occurs more frequently when the number expressed on a prepositional modifiers intervene between the subject and the verb than the number expressed on an object pronoun. Furthermore, subject agreement process with an intervener object pronoun is prone to error, with many errors reported also in the matched condition and with slower reaction timing in comprehension. The study supports the idea that agreement is a grammatical process sensitive not only to the markedness of the intervener element but also to its structural position. A unifying explanation for agreement in both production and comprehension will be adopted in line with retrieval of an agreement source from a content-addressable memory sensitive to structural positions and their implementation in different languages
Centenarians' "holy" memory: is being positive enough?
No full textThe authors compared 18 centenarians' (M age = 100.1years, SD = 1.8years) recognition memory for emotional (positive, negative, and religious) pictures with 18 older adults (M age = 75.2years, SD = 6.8years). Participants observed a series of images that varied in emotional valence and meaning and were later asked to discriminate between old and new images in a series of pictures that included studied images as well as new images. Centenarians showed decreased recognition memory for positive and negative images items compared with older adults, F(1, 34) = 9.82, p <.01. In addition, a significant age by valence interaction was observed highlighting how centenarians remembered religious pictures better while older adults favoured positive information when only positive pictures were taken into consideration. Results are interpreted in terms of possible age-linked changes in meaningful goals that lead centenarians to focus on meaningful religious self-relevant information rather than simply on positive information. © 2013 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
When spatial and temporal contiguities help the integration in working memory: “A multimedia learning” approach
No full textTwo experiments examined the effects of spatial and temporal contiguities in a working memory binding task that required participants to remember coloured objects. In Experiment 1, a black and white drawing and a corresponding phrase that indicated its colour perceptually were either near or far (spatial study condition), while in Experiment 2, the colour phrase and the black and white drawing were presented either simultaneously or sequentially (temporal study condition). Results showed that the absence of contiguity negatively affected binding performance. Data is discussed in line with theoretical and multimedia models of integrative processes in working memory
Aging and the genetic road towards the positivity effect in memory
No full textBetter memory for positive information compared to negative and neutral information has been repeatedly associated with successful aging. The main psychological explanations for this so-called “positivity effect” in memory principally rely on emotional, motivational, and cognitive mechanisms that make older adults' cognition highly sensitive to positive information according to ultimate goals of well-being. However, emerging evidence also delineates a genetic profile for positivity effects in memory, which may render some older adults more prone than others to encoding and remembering positive memories. First, we present a brief overview of behavioral and neuroimaging studies about the positivity effect in aging. Subsequently, we report studies on candidate genes associated with positive memories. In particular, we review work to date on several candidate genes that are sensitive to stimulus valence such as ADRA2B, COMT, and 5HTTLPR. Finally, we propose that the future approach to the study of genetic correlates of positivity effects in memory should also include mitochondrial functioning (TOMM40). Altogether, the study of genetics and cell biology of positivity effects in memory can help us to reveal the underlying bottom-up pathways to positive affect in healthy aging
When touch matters: An affective tactile intervention for older adults
No full textAim: Our goal was to test the hypothesis that positive tactile experiences can lead to an improvement in cognitive, emotional skills and perceived quality of life in a group of healthy community-dwelling older adults. Methods: During a 10-week period, older adults completed a series of activities that required manipulating either a piece of velvet, a piece of canvas or velcro. Results: Only older adults who worked with velvet showed an increase in cognitive and emotional skills, and the perceived quality of life. Conclusion: Our study is one of the first to show that positive tactile experiences might have a beneficial effect on the psychological well-being of healthy community-dwelling older adults across different domains. © 2012 Japan Geriatrics Society
Aging and others' pain processing: Implications for hospitalization
Full text linkObjectives. While self-pain perception has been widely investigated in aging, the perception as well as memory of pain in others
has received little attention. Methods. The study was designed as a cross-sectional behavioral study in which a group of 41 younger
and a group of 41 older adults evaluated a series of valenced and pain-related pictures and were later required to recall them.
Results. We found that older adults judge the stimuli as being less intense compared to their younger counterparts. However, older
adults remembered a larger number of pictures with individuals expressing pain compared to pictures with individuals who have
neutral or positive facial expressions. Conclusions. Older adults may underestimate emotional intensity in others, but they seem to
remember painful information in others as well as younger adults. These data are discussed in terms of theories of pain perception
and implications for hospitalization
Motivated goal pursuit and working memory: Are there age-related differences?
No full textThe influence of motivated behaviors linked to achievement goal pursuit on age-related differences in working memory (WM) has not been extensively investigated. In this study, younger and older participants completed a classical 2-back working memory task that included different types of goal-relevant stimuli. In particular, in Experiment 1 we used euro banknotes as stimuli, whereas in Experiment 2 we used Neapolitan playing cards. In Experiment 3, we directly compared working memory performance for euros and Neapolitan playing cards. We chose stimuli to induce different motivated behaviors linked to the pursuit of achievement goals (e.g., mastery, self-referential vs. performance, normative-based) and to examine their effects on working memory performance. Results showed how older adults were able to recognize target stimuli as well as younger adults when stimuli were goal-relevant. However, Neapolitan playing cards produced a greater number of errors, especially in the older adults. Finally, in Experiment 4, the same pattern of results occurred when motivated behavior was promoted using a dispositional induction technique. Our results show that motivated behaviors evoked by qualitatively diverse achievement goals can modulate WM performance in aging
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